(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display (“LCD”), and in particular, to a method of manufacturing an LCD for reducing the brightness difference due to the stitch error generated during manufacturing an LCD panel by divisional exposure.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Generally, for an LCD panel having an active area larger than the size of an exposure mask, divisional exposure dividing the active area and performing step-and-repeat process is required for forming patterns in the active area. That is, the active area is required to be exposed using at least two “shots.” In practice, since the shots are subject to shift, rotation and distortion, the shots are misaligned (referred to as “stitch error” hereinafter) to generate the difference between the shots in parasitic capacitances generated between wires and pixel electrodes and in the locations of the patterns.
The difference in parasitic capacitances and in the locations of the patterns results in the difference in electric characteristics and in the aperture ratios between the shots of the LCD panel, thereby causing the difference in the brightness between the shots to appear at the boundary between the shots.
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the boundary between shots of a conventional LCD panel.
As shown in FIG. 1, the brightness difference in adjacent shots A and B due to the stitch error is predominant at the boundary between the shots and appears as a stripe.
For reducing the brightness difference, a conventional method of manufacturing an LCD makes the shot boundary have a saw shape as shown in FIG. 2. A plan view of two adjacent shots configured in this way is shown in FIG. 2, and the exposure areas and the brightness thereof are respectively shown in FIGS. 8B and 9B. Although the brightness difference between the shots is one-step reduced at the boundary area between the shots as shown in the figures, the stripe is still visible by the human eyes. Moreover, a mosaic pattern may be observed when a unit stitch area is large.